In the topic Women in history and an examination of gender norms: I wrote that according to a number of sources women are underrepresented in the music industry. For example The Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism reports that on average per year over the seven years from 2012 to 2018, 21.7% of artists were women (out of 700 songs) (3.6 males to 1 female). (See here: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=50838 comments dated April 22nd and April 26th.) The problem for me is that I generally prefer female singers, possibly due to having heard so many male singers throughout my life. So I would like this topic to be about female singers. To start with I have provided links to four videos on which female vocalists could be heard and I encourage others to add more.

Born in Seoul, South Korea the soprano Kathleen Kim debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2007. In this video she portrays the role of Olympia, singing the aria "Les oiseaux dans la charmille" (The birds in the bower) aka “Olympia’s Doll Song” from Jacques Offenbach’s operetta "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" (1881), 6 minutes, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9emRjIMZsVk. I enjoy watching how her mouth moves and how her tongue flutters – such control.

The soprano Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897 in Philadelphia. According to an article at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum website (see here: https://fdrlibrary.org/anderson), “In January 1939 Howard University petitioned the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) . . . “ to allow Marian Anderson to perform at the organization’s Constitution Hall. However, “As part of the original funding arrangements for Constitution Hall, major donors had insisted that only whites could perform on stage.” In response to this in February of 1939, Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR and then worked to arrange a concert for Marian Anderson on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for Easter Sunday. Attendance at the concert numbered 75,000 and the performance was broadcast on NBC Radio – two strong women Marian Anderson and Eleanor Roosevelt. The following link does not go to a video of the Lincoln Memorial concert, but to a 5 minute long video of Marian Anderson singing Ave Maria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GksRp42s3S8.

I tend to prefer music composed prior to 1950, but there are some more modern songs that I like. Here is a link to Cyndi Lauper’s (b. 1953) music video (4 ½ minutes) to "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIb6AZdTr-A. I like the music and the lyrics (not written by Cyndi) and the way Cyndi dances down the street, as well as her singing.

Singing a cappella that is without musical instrumental backup seems to me to be a real test of how well a person or people can sing. On the other hand I feel that many modern singers, in particular male singers, would not sound very much like they were singing if not for the instrumental backup. Here is a video (3 minutes long) of four Russian women singing a cappella, in Russian. The group is called "Белое злато" (White Gold) and the song is “За тихой рекой” (Behind a quiet river). It is a Russian Folksong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANKjat2bj94. The members of the group are Daria Luneeva, Valeria Grigorieva, Maria Baranenko and Ekaterina Radygina. To me the song, despite or because I do not understand the words, is beautiful and fits very well in with their location which is a compartment in a railroad car. In the background is the sound of the moving train and I get a strong feeling of them traveling a long way behind a quiet river.

Storage and Disposal, thank you for linking to those videos. I enjoyed listening to and watching them. When I wrote that I tend to prefer music composed prior to 1950 that doesn't I don't like any music after that year. I like the human voice more as a musical instrument and so I usually don't care much for the words being sung, but then that is not always the case either. It seemed to me that the women singing in your videos sang with more musicality (I'm not sure if that is the right word to use) as compared to many modern singers. What I mean is that they varied their pitch while singing. Another thing that I like is vocalization without lyrics that is singing without words, which I noticed in a number of the songs including Anna Calvi's No More Words and First Aid Kit - In tbe Hearts of men - Thekla Bristol. Also I'm not too up to date on more recent music so I've not heard any of these songs before which is a plus. What I'm able to do is add these videos to a playlist, both the youtube and vimeo ones and then while I'm sitting in my recliner, cast the videos to my TV and hear the sound through a stereo. So, again thank you for contributing.

The singer Edith Piaf “The Little Sparrow” was born near Paris in 1915. At this website https://secondhandsongs.com/work/9571, she is given as the writer of the lyrics for the song “La vie en rose,” in 1945 with someone else given as the composer of the music. However it is also stated that “Edith Piaf originally wrote this song as "Les choses en rose" but couldn't publish it under her name at the time so she asked her friend Louiguy (Luis Guglielmi) to publish it. Some sources thus claim he didn't write the music, but that he got the credit for publishing it.” It would seem that if she tried to publish under her name she would have already written the music. In any case here is a video (3 minutes long) of Edith Piaf singing La vie en rose (The life in pink): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzeLynj1GYM in 1954. This is one of my favorite songs.

This 10 minute video is entitled Number One Hits of The Supremes. The twelve songs are listed below the video. Florence Ballard (b. 1943), Mary Wilson (b. 1944), Diana Ross (b. 1944) and Betty Travis (b. 1941), first formed a group called the Primettes after meeting in Detroit during the 1950’s. They were in High School at the time and because of this Betty Travis and Florence Ballard had to quit the group leaving Mary Wilson and Diana Ross temporarily as a duo. In 1961 Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross signed with Motown Records as the Supremes. Then in 1967 Cindy Birdsong (b. 1939) replaced Florence Ballard. Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFIyLRGBKvQo.

Billie Holiday was born either in Baltimore or Philadelphia in 1915 as Eleanora Fagan Gough or Elinore Harris. While still in her teens she started singing in nightclubs in Harlem. In 1934 she performed at the Apollo Theater and by 1935 she had recorded her first record and in that same year appeared in a movie. She eventually made records with a number of Jazz bands. The sound track of this video is Billie Holiday singing Blue Moon (3 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntDnwBiORu8). Included among the songs she wrote or co-wrote are “Billie’s Blues (1936),” “Fine and Mellow (1939),” “God Bless the Child (1941)” and “Lady Sings the Blues (1956).” She also sang “I’ll Be Seeing You,” “Solitude,” “Summertime” and the controversial “Strange Fruit” among many others. She performed at Carnegie Hall in 1948 and 1956. As with other blacks in America she was a victim of segregation. In at least one case she was told to use the freight elevator because of her race and could not eat in the same dining room as the white members of the band she was singing with. After her death the Recording Academy honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 1987 and in 2011 she was accepted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011. She was also known as “Lady Day.”

The following link is to a video (2 minutes) of Anna Caterina Antonacci (b. 1961 in Bologna) singing the aria 'L'amour est un oiseau rebelle' aka “Habanera” from the Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera “Carmen.” This opera was taken from the 1845 novelette of the same name. See here for video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ_HHRJf0xg. I like Anna Antonacci’s performance in this video, since to me she accuracy portrays the title character by the way she looks and acts except that in the book Carmen is described as wearing black stockings with holes in them – at least from what I remember. In the novelette Carmen is an independent, vibrant woman who knows what she wants and will do what she has to, to get it, but is not particularly mean spirited. I did not feel that she was meant to be a beautiful woman, but was a type that certain men were attracted to. The story can be seen as a cautionary tale of what happens to women like that and to the men who become obsessed with them. The name Habanera refers to a dance from Habana, Cuba.

The Andrews Sisters – Patty born 1918, Maxene born 1916 and LaVerne born 1911 – appeared in their first movie – Argentine Nights – in 1940 and by 1948 had performed in or have voiced for at least 16 films including the animated films Make Mine Music (1946) and Melody Time (1948). In 1941 they appeared in the film Buck Privates in which they sang Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. See here (2 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8of3uhG1tCI. By the way “eight to the bar” refers to a fast boogie beat composed with eighth notes.

The soprano Natalie Dessay was born in 1965 in Lyon, France. She is one of my favorite singers and you could expect to hear of her more in this topic. When young Natalie wanted to be a ballet dancer and an actor, but then switched to singing. Perhaps she satisfies her acting ambition by being particularly expressional when performing, not only in her voice, but also in her movements. Here is she performing, in German with French subtitles, the Queen of the Night’s first Aria (O Zittre Nicht) five minutes, from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ODbDKmSEc.

Jennifer Hudson was born in Chicago in 1981. She portrayed Effie White in the 2006 film version of Dreamgirls for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2007. In 2009 she won a Grammy for Best R&B Album and over the years have won or been the nominee for many other awards. Here is a 4 minutes video of her singing “Burden Down” as well as accompanying herself on the piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPM3jxnoqhk. In addition to Dreamgirls Jennifer Hudson has been in a number of movies and television shows including “Hairspray Live!” During her youth she sang in gospel choirs. I’ve read that she had “no formal music training” (see here: https://myhero.com/J_Hudson_dnhs_US_2011_ul), but also that at age twenty she studied music at the Kennedy-King College in Chicago.

Janis Joplin was born in Port Arthur, East Texas, just across the state line from Louisiana in 1943. In 1968 she released the album “Cheap Thrills” with the group Big Brother and the Holding Company. From that album here is a recording of her singing Turtle Blues (4 ½ minutes), which she also wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiX1ZnyceNI. This is a good example of 12 bar blues. In this form of music there are passages of 12 bars (measures) with the first four being pretty much repeated in the second four. The last four are different with the lyrics being somewhat of an explanation. Example:

Well I’m a mean, mean woman 1st two
I don’t need no one man for no good 2nd two
Said Im a mean, mean woman 3rd two, repeated
I don’t need no one man, for no good 4th two, repeated
I just treats em like I wants to 5th two, explanation
I never treats em honey like I should 6th two, explanation

This video shows Linda Ronstadt (born in 1946 in Tucson Arizona) singing “Poor Wandering One” as Mabel, from the 1983 movie of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1876 operetta “The Pirates of Penzance” (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfjAJn4SC-w. She also performed this role in the 1980 to 1981 Broadway production of this operetta (787 performances). Over her life Linda Ronstadt received 12 Grammy Awards and recorded in a variety of styles including a number of Spanish Language albums.

“Dream a Little Dream of Me” was written in 1931 and has been covered by many singers, both female and male. Later that year Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra recorded the song, the first to do so. This video (3 minutes) shows the German singer Lara Loft singing “Dream a Little Dream of Me:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QmVTSOzztc. Lara Loft was born in Bremen, Germany in 1988 and in addition to being a singer is a voice actress.

Whitney Houston was born in Newark NJ in 1963 and as a child sang in a church choir. Her mother, Cissy Houston, also was a singer. In 1985 Whitney released her first album apply called – “Whitney Houston” – and recorded a second album “Whitney” two years later. She starred as Rachel Marron in the 1992 movie “The Bodyguard” which was the first of her three movies. Here is the official music video of Whitney singing “I Will Always Love You” (4 ½ minutes) from that film, a song written by Dolly Parton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JWTaaS7LdU.

A little known singer and pianist of the 1930s and 1940s, Hazel Scott was born in Trinidad in 1920 and came to the United States when her parents moved to Harlem in New York City. She studied classical piano, but also played and sang Jazz. Here she combines both in a video entitled Female Flying Fingers (2 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RINO48yHpQ8 and in order to keep with the title of this topic here is her playing piano and singing Foggy Day (3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTtX7QVaQWk. She was such a great musician I can’t resist linking to his other video, wherein she plays the musical piece “Black and White are Beautiful” on two grand pianos (1 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HdnjTCMzpg.

Hello again, earlier I wrote that Natalie Dessay (b. 1965 in Lyon, France) is one of my favorite singers and you could expect to hear of her more in this topic. Well here she is again this time singing “Glitter and be Gay,” as Cungegonde from Leonard Bernstein's 1956 operetta Candide (7 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCg4r1Ile4w.

What I most like about singing is not the lyrics, but listening to the voice as a musical instrument. As a consequence I enjoy listening to songs in a language other than English, sometimes more than listening to an English version. I have already linked to a number of such songs and here are two more:

Leslie Uggams, was born in Harlem, NY on May 25, 1943. In addition to being a singer she was also an actress starring in many films and TV shows and also appeared as herself on many more, including TV Teen Club (1952 age 9) where she was a winning contestant, in 47 episodes (1961 to 1964) on Sing Along with Mitch and as Kizzy Reynolds in two episodes of the TV miniseries Roots. She had her own TV show The Leslie Uggams Show in 1969. Here is Leslie Uggams sing “A Lover’s Concerto” (2 ½ minutes):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1RSY3bVNPQ. The music to his song is from the “Minuet in G” (before 1726) originally thought to have been composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, but now attributed to Christian Petzold.

Memphis Minnie, birth name Lizzie Douglas, was born across the Mississippi River from New Orleans in the community of Algiers in 1897. She was a street singer, worked for a circus and anticipated much of the later Rock ‘n’ Roll musicians by playing the guitar, as well as the banjo. Here she is singing her song Bubble Bee (1930, 3 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qLUxdbkv1Y.

Memphis Minnie’s wrote the lyrics to “When the Levee Breaks” (1929), with Kansas Joe McCoy composing the music. The words were inspired by the 1927 flood on the Mississippi. Kansas Joe sang on the song’s first recording, while Led Zeppelin covered it in 1971. However to fit with this topic here is a cover by Zepparella an all female Led Zeppelin tribute band (7 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH-_9cwdLug. The members of Zepparella are Anna Kristina (Vocals), Gretchen Menn (Gutar), Nila Minnerok (Bass) and Clementine (Drums). Both Bubble Bee and When the Levee Breaks are written in the 12 bar blues form.

Born in Alabama in 1926, Willie Mae Thornton, also known as Big Mama Thornton sang and played the harmonica and the drums. As a teenager left home and worked cleaning a tavern. That job lead to her singing in addition to cleaning. At age 15 she started singing full time and eventually moved to Texas where she recorded for Peacock Records. She recorded “Hound Dog” by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, before anyone else did. The song shown here is “Ball ‘n’ Chain” (7 ½ minutes) which she also wrote and which she recorded in 1959: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWe4uq6WkK0. Later in life Willie Mae played at the Monterey Jazz Festival and toured Europe.

Josie Miles was born in Summerville, North Carolina, c. 1900. Here she is singing Mad Mama’s Blues, (1924, 4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmU9XYmD378. She first recorded in 1922 and performed in the shows Shuffle Along (1922) and Runnin’ Wild (1923).

A close contemporary of Josie Miles was Beulah “Sippie” Thomas born in Houston, Texas in 1898. She received her early musical experience performing in her father’s church – then went on to perform throughout Texas with two of her brothers. While still in her teens she went to New Orleans and later on to Chicago. Her album “Sippie” was nominated for a Grammy in 1983 and won a W.C. l Handy Award. Here is Sippie Thomas singing “I’m a Mighty Tight Woman” (1929, 5 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYFUaGb4C1M,

Also born in Houston, but born in1906, was Victoria Spivey. She started her musical career by playing piano in a movie theatre in Dallas and then went on to perform in “gambling parlors, gay hangout and whorehouses in Galveston and Houston. See here: https://aaregistry.org/story/she-could- ... ia-spivey/. Here is a link to her singing “Black Snake Blues” (1926, 3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLQI6qxgE3g. Victoria Spivey and Sippie Thomas were friends and recorded together in 1966.

This link goes to a video (4 minutes) of Anna Netrebko and Elina Garanca singing Jacques Offenbach’s “Barcarolle” from his 1881 operetta Les Contes d'Hoffmann in rehearsal. In the first post to this topic I linked to Kathleen Kim singing the aria "Les oiseaux dans la charmille" (The birds in the bower) aka “Olympia’s Doll Song” also from the same operetta. The name Barcarolle refers to a song sung by Venetian gondoliers. Anna Netrebko (on the right) is a soprano born in what is now Russia in 1971 and Elina Garanca is a mezzo soprano born in Riga Latvia in 1976. They are not gondoliers. The mezzo soprano is Hoffmann’s muse who dresses as a man and the soprano portraits a courtesan. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdc2zNgJIpY.

Until I started to prepare for this post I knew very little about the next video, but without understanding the words I made up a nice story in my mind. Even now I don’t know who sings it, but I am trying to find that out. I did look up the name “Meng Jiangnu” and found out it is the name of a female main character in a Chinese fairy tale type story. While there are some commonalities the fairy tale type story does not seem to me to match the video. I may feel this way because I prefer my story. In any case here is the video (5 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2D-l2r3oY0.

Scott Joplin (b. c. 1868, in or near Texarkana) composed the three act opera “Treemonisha” sometime around 1910. The story of the opera is about a community of “several negro families living on the plantation and other families back in the woods” (from the preface of the opera’s sheet music). There are no “white folks” living on the plantation or in the opera. In 1866, a woman Monisha, who does not have any children, finds a baby girl under a tree and after she and her husband Ned “adopt” the child Monisha names her Treemonisha. The actual story takes place during one day in 1884.

Here are links to two songs from the opera. The first is called “Treemonisha the sacred tree” (5 minutes) sung by Delores Ivory (b. 1939, in Detroit) depicting Monisha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3hsbvX3So4. And this link goes to the final number of the opera – “A Real Slow Drag” – primarily sung by Carmen Balthrop (b. 1948 in Washington DC) as Treemonisha in the blue dress and Cora Johnson as Lucy to the right in the yellow hat, then followed by the ensemble in a chorus. Despite its name A Real Slow Drag is an upbeat number and a great way to end the opera. See here (6 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukgWU6JCZkg. Both Delores Ivory and Cora Johnson had roles in a Broadway production of Porgy and Bess and Carmen Balthrop preformed as Pamina in The Magic Flute, Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly and Micaela in Carmen.

A Drag is slow a dance where the dancers drag their feet along the floor without lifting them up. It may have just been an excuse for the couples to hold each other close at the end of the night. It is the one piece of music in the opera that sounds closest to Ragtime to me. Scott Joplin wrote a large number of “Rags” perhaps two of the most famous are “Maple Leaf Rag” (1899) and “The Entertainer” (1902). He grew up in the general area and during the general time frame of the story of this opera so it is possible that much of it is based on his personal experience. Also the opera pointed out the importance of education.

Pretty Yende is a member of the Zulu ethnic group having been born in the town of Piet Retief, which is located in northeastern South Africa. She began singing in a church choir, had originally wanted to be an accountant until she learned about opera as a teenager and then was able to attend the South African College of Music. Her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York came about due to her being asked to take over from another soprano who was not available. As she stepped on the stage that first night, she tripped, but speedily recovered and after she started singing received a huge applause. She has sung the roles for Carmen, Marie in “La fille du regiment,” Rosina in “The Barber of Seville” and Juliette in “Romeo and Juliette.” Here she is singing Johann Strauss Junior’s 1882 Fruhlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring) 8 ½ minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUlakwsdo5c.

These two links go to videos of a band from Japan called Band Maid. The first is called “Thrill” (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uds7g3M-4lQ and the second is “Secret Maiko Lips” (5 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNHGABwme50. Kobato Miku the founder of the band used to work in a maid café where the waitresses would wear maid dresses and she thought those outfits would be a contrast to metal rock music that the band plays. So, that is how the name came about and why some of the members wear maid dresses when they perform. It also seems that the outfits in “Secret Maiko Lips” are also a contrast to their music. The members are Kobato Miku (vocals/rhythm guitar), Saiki (vocals), Misa (Bass), Kanami (lead guitar) and Akane (drums).

Fifth Harmony is a vocal group formed in 2012 or so, but appears to have recently broken up. Anyway here is a link to their video (3 ½ minutes) “Don’t Say You Love Me:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju_inUnrLc4. The members of the group were Camila Cabella, Normani Kordei, Lauren Jauregui, Dinah Jane and Ally Brooke.

Here are the Spice Girls with their video “Wannabe” (4 minutes, 1996): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJLIiF15wjQ. If you don’t remember the members they were Victoria Beckham (Posh), Emma Bunton (Baby), Melanie Brown (Scary), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty) and Geri Halliwell (Ginger). They disbanded, but four of them may be getting back together for a tour. I like the music and the video, which to me shows the togetherness of a group of female friends. I also like the older women in black at about 2 minutes and 50 seconds. While it is made to look like it is shot in one take it really took three takes with the two splices. By the by there was a 2002 movie called the “Russian Ark” which is reportedly shot in one 99 minute long take.

Next are The Bangles formed in 1981, with “Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv6tuzHUuuk. I particularly like when Debbi Peterson whistles. The band members are Susanna Hoffs (b. 1959 in Los Angeles, vocals/guitar), Victoria Peterson (b. 1958 in Los Angeles, vocals/guitar), Debbi Peterson (b. 1961 in Los Angeles, drums/vocals) and Michael Steele (b. 1955 in Pasadena, vocals/bass) the latter replaced Annette Zilinskas in 1983. They went through a number of names before the current one, including Colours, The Supersonic Bangs and the Bangs.

Many people may have heard of Josephine Baker, but most probably only think of her as being someone who danced in a banana skirt, however she actually lead a very interesting life. She was born in 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri. Josephine was her middle name. She grew up poor and went to work at an early age. In addition to more menial jobs she was a street dancer. This got her noticed and she started dancing on stage with the Dixie Steppers. She toured with this group then in the early twenties she joined the chorus of “Shuffle Along” in New York City. After “Shuffle Along” she was in the Broadway show “The Chocolate Dandies.” In 1925 Josephine arrived in Paris with the show “La Revue Negre.” This was the real start of her success as an entertainer. After Paris she went with “La Revue Negre” to Berlin and when she returned to the French capital went on to perform at the Folies Bergere. While in Paris the she ran her own nightclub “Chez Josephine.” She performed in a number of movies during the 1920s into the 1950s and starred in the 1927 silent film “Siren of the Tropics,” the 1934 film “Zouzou” and the 1935 film “Princesse Tam-Tam.” She became a French citizen in 1937. With the June 1940 surrender of Paris to the Nazis, Josephine joined the French Resistance as a messenger and spy and was made Second-lieutenant in the Free French forces. Later she received honors from the French government for her patriotic work during the war. Starting in 1954 Josephine adopted 12 children from various parts and continents of the world. So, Josephine was not just a dancer, but also an entrepreneur, a comedian, an actress, a war hero and a humanitarian. She was also a singer and here are three videos showing her singing.

Earlier I wrote about the singer Edith Piaf and linked to a video of her singing “La vie en rose,” which she had written the words to. Here is Josephine Baker singing that same song (3 minutes, some nudity): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk5yn8q6GNM.

Joni Mitchell was born Roberta Joan Anderson, in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada in 1943. While hospitalized at age 9, as a result of contracting polio, she sang to the other patients. Eventually she moved to New York City. In 1968 she wrote the song Both Sides Now and recorded it the next year. Here she is singing that song on the Mama Cass show in 1969 (4 ½ minutes). Also on the stage is the singer songwriter Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NdsnFZm0X4.

The singer-songwriter known as Zahara was born Bulelwa Mkutukana in the Phumlani Informal Settlement outside of East London in Eastern Cape, South Africa, near the Indian Ocean coast. The song she sings in the following video (3 ½ minutes) is called “Loliwe” which means train. It is sung in Xhosa, which is Zahara’s native language. See here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h76UjX27y80. According to Zahara the song “. . . was inspired by fathers who travel by trains to go look for jobs in the big cities living their families behind, some come back and some don’t.” (See here: http://www.yomzansi.com/2011/09/22/inte ... th-zahara/) Loliwe is also the name of her first album, which was released in 2011. Her recording are very popular in South Africa. It is my understanding that Zahara means flower or to shine.

In Women in history and an examination of gender norms I wrote about the singer songwriter Sappho, born c. 620 BCE on the Greek island of Lesbos. After writing about Joni Mitchell and Zahara I was struck by how similar the three are despite Sappho being born more than 2500 years before the other two and despite Sappho playing the 7 string lyre instead of a guitar. Here is a link to a video (2 minutes) of one of Sappho’s songs, “. . . sung in ancient Greek by Andrea Goodman, accompanying herself on a 7-string lyre” with words by Sappho, but as the original music is unknown it is sung to music by Eve Beglarian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOlIqozu3Fg.

The members of the all female singing group “The Honeybee Trio” are Natalie Angst, Sarah McElwain and Karli Bosler Welch. They formed as a group in October 2008 when they were 12 and 13 years old after having met as a result of attending the same High School. Here are videos of the trio covering two songs by The Andrew Sisters – “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” composed in 1941 (2 ½ minutes) see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mch6omtVH0U and “In the Mood” composed in1938 (3 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiMQMHjXa0E. Earlier I linked to The Andrews Sisters singing “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy in the post dated May 30, 2019 in this topic.

Citizen Queen is an all female singing group. The members are Beat-boxer Cora Isablel, Mezzo-Soprano Hannah Mrozak, Bass Kaedi Dailley, Alto Kaylah Sharve and Soprano Nina Nelson. I became aware of this group after discovering the video “Evolution of Girl Groups,” which shows Citizen Queen recreating songs from 25 female groups from “Mr. Sandman by the Chordettes in 1954 to sledgehammer by Fifth Harmony in 2014. A full list of the songs and groups can be seen in the statement below the video. The video is only 6 minutes long so each recreation averages a little over 14 seconds. See here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbfJivZm3Xo.

When watching the last video from Citizen Queen, the one about Christmas (see above), I started thinking about Hanukkah songs and other songs of holidays in the Jewish tradition. Here are two Hanukkah songs, sung by singer/songwriter Michelle Citrin.

One source describes Michelle Citrin as "Brooklyn Based" and IMDb lists her as being the "Voices of Shushanites" in a 2011 episode of the animated TV series "Jewish Holidays." More information about Michelle along with some more of her songs can be found here: http://michellecitrin.com/biography#anchor_element

Barbra Streisand was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1942. She sang in the choir at the Bais Yakoy elementary school, but her first interest in regard to show business was to be an actress. When young she took acting classes, but not singing lessons, however after her success in a talent show, she started to sing in cabarets. Her successes in entertainment is astounding - as a singer, dramatic actress, comedian, in movies and on TV. She has a great voice and is a mezzo soprano with a wide vocal range. The following link goes to a video (4 minutes) in which she sings Avinu Maikeinu (Our Father, Our King) which, as I understand it, is a pray associated with the holiday Rosh Hashanah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaW-rfyzadM.

The Dohany Street or Great Synagogue of Budapest, which is shown in the video, was built in 1859 and is currently the second larges Synagogue in the world.

Lena Horne was born in Brooklyn (YEA Brooklyn!) on June 30,1917. At age 16 she was working as a dancer and singer at the Cotton Club in Harlem. Her first credited film role was in the 1938 film "The Duke is Tops." The following link goes to a video (13 minutes) of a short film "Boogie Woogie Dream," which was filmed in 1941, but not released until 1944. Also in the film are three lesser known Jazz Musicians who never less were terrific musicians - Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Teddy Wilson. Pete Johnson was a composer, as well as a performer and performed at Carnegie Hall. I particularly enjoy the piano playing in this short film and it just amazes me as to how fast they perform. During the 1930s most of the clubs in Harlem, such as the Cotton Club were segregated with black performers and employees and an all white audience, as is shown in the film. However, in 1941 the four performers were engaged at Café Society an integrated club in Greenwich Village. Lena Horne did perform at the Cotton Club, but I doubt that she ever washed dishes. A major exception to the policy of segregation was the Savoy Ballroom located on what was then Lenox Avenue (Malcohm X Blvd) between 140th and 141st street in Harlem. Lean Horn did perform in a number of movies for MGM and 20th century Fox, but in many her roles were such that her performance could be deleted when the film was shown in the south. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC4JtPv7eBQ. The lyrics, which are a good example of 12 bar blues, also seem fitting for a feminist website.

The singer guitarist Rhiannon “Ritzy” Bryan was born in Wales in 1984. She is now the front women and lead vocalist of the band “The Joy Formidable.” In 2016 that group released their song “Last Thing On My Mind.” What particularly interests me, other than that the lead singer is female, is that video show many men, many of them nude and a woman looking through a peephole. In regard to this music video Ritzy Bryan writes “. . . it [the song] talks about feeling alive, being free and this track in particular touches upon sexual liberation; specifically about a woman’s carnal imagination.” Also, “The video follows a voyeuristic heterosexual female gaze (like my own) . . .” and “. . . there just isn’t enough diversity in music videos when it comes to sexual representation. The male gaze is well represented, we see plenty of female nudity, statistically more than men, we see men in positions of power with scantily clad women . . .” She also writes “I guess what I’m trying to convey is whilst making this video we kept finding proof of the imbalance, of the ingrained gender stereotypes . . .“ and near the end writes that “. . . even the long vilified erection is fine by me.” These quotes are part of a longer statement located below the video. To be clear, the video contains many images of nude men, some from the back which are not censored and some from the front which are pixilated. The video (4 minutes) can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpWUIRGZwvE.

This is the first of a number of music videos I plan to link to showing male nudity or partial male nudity.

The band Elastica was formed in 1992. Its members were Justine Frischmann, Donna Matthews, Annie Holland and Justin Welch. The song “Connection” was written by Justine Frischmann. The men in the video, other than the drummer, appear to be nude, but are censored in a way as they are sitting. I like the music and also like the video as the nude men appear to be there for decoration. Here is the video (2 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwEVvRGgb8Y.

Next is the 1981 song “Physical” sung by Olivia Newton-John. There are no nude men in this 4 minute long video, but many scantily clad men, with close-ups. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWz9VN40nCA. Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, in 1948, but grew up in Melbourne, Australia.

Madonna was born Madonna Louise Ciccone in 1958 in Bay City, Michigan. The following link goes to a video (6 ½ minutes) showing her singing the song “Vogue” at the MTV Awards for 1990. In addition to the music itself there are a number of things I like about this video. First are the men in tight short-shorts showing their legs. This is something unusual particularly when the women are so fully dressed. I feel the men look good in their short-shorts. Second are the costumes themselves. And third are the women being so aggressive. See here for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTaXtWWR16A.

The four videos linked to above are on the wild side, but this following one is more romantic. Shania Twain was born in Windsor, Canada in 1965 as Eilleen Regina Edwards. This link goes to the music video (3 ½ mintues) for “You’re Still the One” which Shana Twain co-wrote. The man in the video who the song is being sung to and who is “still the one” appears to be nude while he is bathing and getting out of the tub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNZH-emehxA.

Earlier, in the post dated May 30th, I wrote about the French soprano Natalie Dessay (b. 1965, in Lyon, France) saying she was one of my favorite singers. Well here she is again, this time singing four songs in Latin from Carmina Burana. The songs are about love and a lovely girl. Here is the 6 ½ minute long video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irRVdkzUh-0.

The soprano Beverly Sills was born as Belle Miriam Silverman in Brooklyn in 1929. She sang on the radio at age three, appeared on TV at age four and became known as Bubbles as a result of her singing in soap commercials. Age seven saw her singing in a movie and at age sixteen she was singing in Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas. Then at age 18 she began performing with the Philadelphia Opera and later sang with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Here she is singing the “O luce di quest’anima” aria (O light of this soul) from the opera “Linda di Chamounix” in Italian (4 minutes). Her singing is bright and fast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb_IoGBp720.

Lucia Popp was born in what is now Slovakia, in 1939 as Lucia Poppova. When young she studied medicine and then wanted to be an actress. Eventually with the help of a voice teacher she began to sing. At age 23 she was performing the Queen of the Night arias in the Magic Flute and has traveled around the world giving performances. This video (6 minutes long), from 1965, shows her singing, in German, “Fruhlingsstimmenwaltzer” (Voices of Spring) It appears to be a humorous little scene, possibly from a longer story, from television. The music itself is light and happy and I particularly like her little duet with a flute. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWMrPQ0VKWg.